A Grassroots Humanitarian Uprising: Polish society’s response to Russia’s War in Ukraine

• In Event: Societal responses to the Russian war: grassroots initiatives’ and NGOs’ engagement in Poland and Ukraine

Abstract

This paper will discuss the novel humanitarian responses to Ukrainian refugees based in Poland. We argue that since February 2022, the commitment by citizens and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) providing support to Ukrainian refugees and to people in Ukraine demonstrates the crucial role of local actors and grassroots engagement in complex humanitarian crises. New forms of cooperation, which cut across previous divides, or what we call ad-hoc, needs-based partnerships (ANP) represent an important evolution in grassroots activism and global humanitarian assistance. Moreover, some ANPs go beyond providing traditional humanitarian aid, for example, by crowdfunding to purchase and deliver equipment to assist the Ukrainian military (Noe 2022) or engaging in so-called humanitarian smuggling (Cullen Dunn and Kaliszewska 2023).
Informed by second generation constructivist theories (Hall and Biersteker 2002), we suggest that because of the engagement of different, more empowered local initiatives and societal actors, as well as technological innovations, ongoing citizens’ responses and ad-hoc needs based partnerships require a reappraisal of the global humanitarian system. Our paper draws on qualitative methods and is based on the analysis of field interviews with officials from humanitarian organizations and individuals currently involved in providing humanitarian assistance in Poland, as well as representatives of Polish advocacy NGOs.
Especially in the first months of the war, most of the aid delivered to Ukrainians in Poland was spontaneous (Rudnicki 2023), provided by individuals and informal grassroots ANPs. The first and most obvious grassroots ANPs were formed in train stations almost immediately after the war began (Domaradzki et al. 2022). Humanitarian NGOs traditionally claim to be neutral, apolitical actors that provide aid to all in need (McMahon); the grassroots ANPs that emerged in Poland are not only comprised of diverse actors and informal groups of citizens that operate at different levels, but they are also involved in a range of humanitarian activities that intentionally seek to support Ukraine and its fight against Russia. Ukrainians have been encouraging foreign actors to participate in “the activist tradition of resistance humanitarianism,” (Slim 2022) opting for solidarity with those on the front line (If not now, when?)
We argue that while striving to meet the needs of Ukrainian people, ANPs blur previous distinctions of humanitarian aid and demonstrate the untapped civic potential of polarized East European societies. The immediate engagement by private individuals, Polish non-governmental organizations, and over time by large INGOs and donors from Europe and North America challenges established concepts and traditional divides, especially Western-Third World or Global North-Global South distinctions. We perceive the growth of ANPs to be in line with the phenomenon of transcalar advocacy (Pallas and Bloodgood 2022), which describes new types of cooperation that defies North-South, international-national divides, transcends different levels of action, and where the agency of Southern NGOs has been enhanced.
We conclude by noting the importance of future research on this topic, particularly studies that avoid “epistemic imperialism” (Sonevytsky 2022, 22) and intentionally incorporate the first-hand accounts of Ukrainian scholars and activists from Ukraine and Poland, as well as those from outside the region.
Bibliography
E. Cullen Dunn and I. Kaliszewska (2023). Informality, Geopolitics and the Art of Humanitarian Smuggling. June 20, 2023, lecture, recording available at https://www.facebook.com/PTSOddzialWroclaw/videos/218592191092434 (accessed June 23, 2023)
R.B. Hall and T.J. Biersteker (2022) “The emergence of private authority in the international system” in The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance. ed. R.B. Hall and T.J. Biersteker, 3-22. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
If not now, when? An open letter to international donors and NGOs who want to genuinely help Ukraine (https://philanthropy.com.ua/en/program/view/akso-ne-zaraz-koli#:~:text=We%20are%20Ukrainian%20CSOs%20and,term%20needs%20in%20our%20communities)
N. Noe (2022) Localizing the International Humanitarian Response in Ukraine. Refugees International Report. September 2022
C.L. Pallas and E.A. Bloodgood (eds.) (2022). Beyond the Boomerang: From Transnational Advocacy Networks to Transcalar Advocacy in International Politics. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press
P. Rudnicki (2023) Kto, jak nie my? Wspólnota i działanie na Dworcu Głównym we Wrocławiu (marzec-kwiecień 2022), Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Dolnośląskiej Szkoły Wyższej
H. Slim (2022) “Solidarity, Not Neutrality, Will Characterize Western Aid to Ukraine.” Ethics and International Affairs, Carnegie Council
M. Sonevytsky, (2022) “What is Ukraine? Notes on epistemic imperialism,” Topos nr.2(2022): 21-30 (https://journals.ehu.lt/index.php/topos/article/view/1146/999)

Authors

• Patrice C. McMahon, University of Nebraska Lincoln

• Galia Chimiak, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences